Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]

TRAINING GUARANTEE (OUTSTANDING TRAINER) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1992 NO.322

STATUTORY RULES 1992 No. 322

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Employment, Education and Training

Training Guarantee (Administration) Act 1990

Training Guarantee (Outstanding Trainer) Regulations (Amendment)

Legislative Authority

1.       The Training Guarantee (Administration) Act 1990 (the Act) and the Training Guarantee Act 1990 provide the legislative authority for the Training Guarantee Scheme, under which, from 1 July 1990, employers with an annual payroll at or above the threshold (currently $222,000) are required to spend a minimum amount on eligible training activities. This amount rose to 1.5% of payroll from 1 July 1992. Employers who do not incur this expenditure are liable to a Training Guarantee charge.

2.       The Commissioner of Taxation has the general administration of the Act.

3.       Section 102 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Outstanding Trainer Regulations

4.       Section 18A of the Act provides that the training guarantee charge is not payable by an employer if, under regulations, the employer is taken to be an eligible outstanding trainer. The administering agent for this provision is the Department of Employment, Education and Training.

Regulations

5.       Proposed regulations 4 and 5 ensure that the expenditure compliance certificate signed by a registered company auditor must refer to the eligible training programs identified in the training compliance certificate. This clarifies the requirement that the training compliance certificate must be completed before the expenditure compliance certificate and the expenditure referred to thereon must be on those eligible training programs.

6.       New sub-regulation 9(4) requires that the allowable expenditure is net of any training subsidies or reimbursements and that, in the case of an employer of apprentices or trainees, the actual net costs of training the apprentices or trainees are included. The deemed costs of training apprentices which are accepted for normal Training Guarantee purposes are not accepted for Outstanding Trainer Status purposes.

7.       Proposed regulations 6 to 8 provide that the chief officer of an employer with outstanding trainer status may have a reasonable excuse for not advising the Secretary of the Department of a change in the employer's circumstances within 30 days or for not complying with a request to show cause within 30 days why outstanding trainer status should not be revoked.

8.       Proposed regulation 7 also inserts a new Regulation 15A which provides that if the chief officer does give notice, the employer must be given the chance to show cause why the outstanding trainer status should not be revoked. Previously the decision maker could revoke the status without referring to the employer.

Notes on Regulations

9.       Proposed regulation 1 allows for the existing Training Guarantee (Outstanding Trainer) Regulations to be amended by the proposed Training Guarantee (Outstanding Trainer) Regulations (Amendment).

10.       Proposed regulation 2 inserts into the old Regulation 3 definitions of expenditure compliance certificates and training compliance certificates Expenditure compliance certificates are those to be completed by a registered company auditor in accordance with the amended Regulation 9. Training compliance certificates are those to be completed by an industry training agent or a training consultative committee in accordance with the amended Regulation 8.

11.       Proposed regulation 3 requires that an expenditure compliance certificate and a training compliance certificate accompany an application for outstanding trainer status.

12.       Proposed regulation 4 amends Regulation 8 by deleting it and replacing it with a new one. This continues the use of the terms "expenditure compliance certificates" and "training compliance certificates".

13.       Proposed regulation 5 amends the old Regulation 9. This has the effect of requiring that the expenditure referred to on the expenditure compliance certificate relates to the eligible training programs referred to on the training compliance certificate.

14.       A further effect of the amendment to Regulation 9 is that training subsidies and reimbursements must now be deducted from the expenditure on the eligible training programs.

15.       For employers of apprentices or trainees, the amendment to Regulation 9 will mean that, for outstanding trainer status purposes, they do not have the option of claiming the deemed apprentice or trainee amount. This means that only actual net expenditure on the training of apprentices or trainees can be counted for outstanding trainer status.

Commencement

16.       The proposed regulations commence on gazettal.